


Destcember 2019 - Uldren/Crow

by SanneARBY



Series: Destcember [8]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Awoken (Destiny) - Freeform, Awoken Guardian (Destiny) - Freeform, Break Up, Canon-Typical Violence, Destcember (Destiny), Destcember 2019 (Destiny), F/M, Fluff, Fucking, Hunter Guardian (Destiny), Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Outside Sex, Resurrection, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:28:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28016982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanneARBY/pseuds/SanneARBY
Summary: My Destcember 2019 stories featuring Uldren/Crow. The chapter title is the prompt of the chapter. Any chapter with explicit content will have "NSFW" added to it.
Relationships: Crow / Saladin, Léon / Uldren/Crow, Vax / Crow
Series: Destcember [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050818
Kudos: 7
Collections: All Crow stories





	1. A Day Off

Ghost chimed up from the desk, came back alive from its slumber. “Crow is pinging you.”

The Awoken at the kitchen table looked up from her breakfast, fork halfway to her mouth before she lowered it. “Any messages with it?”

A hum as it analyzed. “Meet him at the courtyard in five minutes.”

She swallowed down her food and stood up, nodding. 

  
  


She looked beautiful as ever, Crow smiling widely as she came into his view. “Vax,” he beamed at the Warlock, pulled her into his arms and hugged her lovingly. 

“Crow,” she smiled in return, held him tightly in her arms before moving to press their lips together. 

He made a noise into the kiss, melted into her arms, and looked positively giddy when they parted. “I have a day off.”

The implication was easy to guess. 

“As do I,” she tilted her head and hair tickled her face, wind blowing past the two Guardians in their embrace. She moved her hands to where his shirt and pants met, teased her fingertips under his shirt and ghosted over his cold skin, tickled past the hairs below his belly button. She shivered at that, knew what lay below. 

He shuddered and looked down at her a bit breathlessly. “That was not quite what I had in mind,” he admitted then, nudging closer to kiss her once more, goosebumps cooling his skin even more. “But I like where your head’s at.”

She smiled and neatly tucked his shirt back before she removed her hands. “What did you have in mind?”

Crow looked out to the City, watched the many colourful buildings. “Market stalls should be out, we can see if we can find any more jewellery for your collection,” he gently touched the necklace around her neck, toyed with the intricate golden sun on the chain. “Maybe get me a nice set of shoes or something.”

  
  


The sun was already setting down a warm summer evening when they finally finished their shopping, the two Guardians holding hands as they walked together down the crowded street. A comfortable silence covered them, neither of them feeling the need to break it. 

Crow led them to a side street of the main shopping area, walked down the cozy alley until he found what he had been looking for. “Here you go,” he hummed, extending his arm out to the restaurant. “Best Chinese food I’ve ever had, I need to share this greatness with you. How’s your chopstick skills?”

“Probably better than yours,” she grinned, nudging him inside and following suit. 

They sat down and ordered, and then they just sat there. 

The evening sun cast long shadows down the alley before it disappeared completely behind the buildings and cast the City into darkness. Lights sprung on around them, and the fairy lights hung up outside cast a cozy orange glow inside. The heat of the summer blew through the open door. 

“I think I’m the luckiest Guardian right now,” Vax mused then, a quiet exclamation of her love. She smiled at him, blue eyes piercing through the faint light of the restaurant. 

He laid down his chopsticks and tilted his head at her with a chuckle. “That’s saying something, I have Saladin to live up to,” he teased, but he couldn’t deny the butterflies in his belly. 

Her eyes squinted as she grinned at him and then leaned over the table close to him, licked her lips, and smiled. “Why don’t you show me how well you match up later?”

The purr in her voice weakened his knees, and he thanked the Traveler that he was sitting down already. “I never expected Ikora’s second in command to be as horny as you are,” he murmured lovingly, hungry gaze in his eyes betraying his feigned cool-headedness. “I’m not complaining.”

“It’s all about the people, dear. Some bring it out more than others,” her foot moved up towards his, nudged at the hem of his pant leg and pushed up just a bit. “Shame about the pants,” she moved her foot away and continued her dinner, innocently met his eyes. 

He breathed out a bit sharper than he wanted, tried to think of _anything_ other than Vax in front of him right now. He’d definitely learned how great of a tease she was, but he never quite got used to it. “Been on any patrols lately? I cleared out some lost sectors the past few days, got an actual praise from Zavala if you can believe it.”

She chuckled at his change of subject, but she allowed it, wanting him to be able to finish his food without an uncomfortable bulge in his pants. 

They shared some small talk and discussed the state of things, the Hunter Vanguard, the Moon, whatever came up. During the dinner her feet rested easily against his, a comfortable touch for both as the table kept them apart. 

“You know,” Crow then started, running a hand through his hair and chuckling. “When you first kissed me that day, I think I about had a heart attack,” the Hunter admitted then, a loving purple blush on his face as he simply _remembered_. “In no way had I ever expected that to come from it, I really thought you wouldn’t be interested. That I was just work for you, especially considering - you know.”

She leaned her head on her hands and gazed into his pale yellow eyes. “You were at first,” she said gently. “But then when we started spending more time together, talking more, I just - sort of realised how true it rang that no Guardian is who they were before. You are your own person, and I really learned that from you. It was easy to detach myself from what I believed you were at first. You evolved from ‘just work’ to something else not soon after,” she sipped her drink and then smirked at him. “Sparring matches didn’t help either.”

“God, yeah, every time after those I uh, yeah,” he rubbed at his neck, laughing at the implied confession. 

They looked at each other for a moment, and his eyes darkened. He inched close to her, felt her breath on his face. “Hey, what do you say I pay for us and we get out of here?” 

She met him halfway and kissed him roughly, bit at his bottom lip before parting and smirking against his lips. “Sounds like a lovely plan, I want those hands of yours to get to work already.”

“Hm, says you with the mouth,” he purred, ghosting his thumb over her lips. “Let’s go.”

The chairs scraped over the floor as they got up together. 


	2. Free Prompt

“Move, you dick.”

“Hm, wouldn’t mind being on yours right now,” Léon purred, shuffling aside on the ledge to allow for Uldren to lie down next to him. 

The Awoken Prince smirked at his lover and nudged his elbow into the other man’s side before he laid down his sniper rifle and set it up. “You’re insufferable,” the smile was audible in his voice. 

“Yet you still touch me so lovingly at night,” Léon sighed wistfully. “700 meters.”

Uldren adjusted his scope with practiced ease and moved around a bit until the stock of his rifle was comfortable against his shoulder. He exhaled and then halted. 

The shot rang through the air and in the distance the head of the Risen exploded and their body limply fell to the ground. 

Uldren and Léon laughed as they quickly hid behind the ledge, hands grazing together as they lay there, ensuring the resurrected Risen wouldn’t be able to see them. 

“Do you think this ever won’t be funny? We must’ve done it a thousand times at this point,” Léon grinned, looking at Uldren next to him. 

Said man looked back at his lover and then hummed as he laid the rifle between them away, rolling over to lie against Léon. “Darling, with you, everything is funnier. Especially the killing of the Risen, you have the eyes of a hawk.”

His yellow eyes were fond as he looked into Uldren’s, smiling. “You’re the one taking the shots,  _ mon cœur _ , I am just your spotter,” he pulled Uldren over him and pressed their lips together, nudging his leg between his lover’s. 

He made a noise, allowed the pleasant grazing against his groin as he teased open his partner’s lips and gently licked the inside of Léon’s mouth. 

“Guardian incoming.”

Uldren groaned and pulled away, looking at the Ghost who had appeared next to them. “Fuck off,” he leaned back down to Léon. 

Léon rolled his eyes but sat up regardless, hands resting on Uldren’s arms. “ _ Mon chéri _ , it’s a good lookout while we make out, let’s make use of that feature for now and get out of here,” he stole another kiss from the Prince, ran a gloved hand through the silky black hair. “We can finish this at home, preferably in your bed.”

The pale yellow eyes looked down at Léon, and a mischievous smirk curved at Uldren’s lips. “I like where your head’s at,” he purred, caressing his thumb over his lover’s cheek. 

“Hmm, if we stay here any longer I won’t have a head anymore,” he grinned then, pulling the both of them up to their feet. He looked back down and saw the Risen steadily running towards them, cracked helmet showing the fury in their eyes. “Let’s go.”

Uldren’s hand was comfortable in his as he guided them back to their ship. 


	3. Guardian of Nothing

“What is that  _ thing _ doing, following you around?”

Uldren’s cool eyes locked onto the Ghost next to Léon, knew his lover was fine, but still had to suppress the need to pull him away from the unwanted presence. 

Léon glanced at the machine to his side and sighed, shaking his head. “Tell him what you told me.”

The Ghost chimed up, sounding cheerful and excited. “I am Léon’s Ghost, and he is my Guardian!”

The Prince snarled and reflexively gripped at the knife on his thigh. “You are aware he is still very much so alive?” he pulled at Léon after all, wanting him close as if to assure for himself that the words he said were true. 

Léon wrapped his arms around the Prince, back turned to the Ghost. “Ignore it,  _ mon cœur _ , it doesn’t matter. It’s going to have to wait a very long time before I will allow it to accompany me as we have seen them do to so many other Risen.” 

Uldren sent another snarl at the machine before his yellow eyes softened into Lèon’s. “Darling, I won’t allow it to do anything to you. You belong to me, and only me,” he gripped tightly at his lover’s sides, pulled him flush against him and harshly pressed their lips together. 

“Is this-“ he let out a noise. “- an insecure Prince?” he purred against his lover’s lips, gently pulled back to look into his eyes with a confident smirk. “You’re insecure for nothing, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, so this little machine is going to find out how boring exactly the life of the living is.”

Uldren grumbled, eyes dark. “You call it insecure, I call it love,” he pressed their lips together once more in a slower and deeper kiss, holding Léon’s chin between his thumb and index finger. “Send it away, let it come back whenever it’s needed. I don’t need a reminder of our eventual death every time it comes with you.” 

“Actually, once I have found my Guardian I am not supposed to leave them,” the Ghost chimed up, twirling around the men’s heads. “So I will be with you, ready to help and link up whenever!”

The Prince glanced at the machine, stared daggers at it as only he could. “I’m going to shoot you every time you talk. You disappear and leave us alone,” he pulled Lèon close against him once more, wanted to feel every inch of him to assure himself he was still with him. 

“Darling,” Léon whispered, hand on Uldren’s cheek pulling his gaze away from the machine. “It doesn’t exist. Not for centuries will it be a part of our lives. It’s only you and me,” he pressed their foreheads together and looked into the yellow eyes he had come to know so well. “Please, ignore it. Every day you see it, ignore it and focus on me instead, know I am still here and will be for a lot more years to come.”

His face softened, tension leaving his body. He relaxed the hand that had been resting on his hand cannon and closed his eyes. “I’m not going to lose you,” his hands moved to the small of the other man’s back, rested in the comfortable space. 

“Exactly, fuck this machine. You and I can take care of each other, we don’t need anything else to get us out of hairy situations. We are already experts at that,” Léon smirked at his lover and pulled him in for another kiss, hand cradling the back of his lover’s head to press him as close as possible. 

“Actually, my name is-“

Uldren whipped out his hand cannon and shot at the Ghost. 

The bullet simply bounced off of the machine’s shield and fell to the ground, but it had understood the message and dematerialised. 

“That’s right,” he murmured, before moving back to the pressing matters at hand and pushing Léon against the nearest wall. 


	4. (NSFW) Free Prompt

Léon, of the Awoken. 

A name and title he didn’t know where they came from but he knew they matched with who and where he was. 

The sky was a lovely blue above him, clouds whirling overhead and the sun shining down on him as he lay in the grass enjoying the sounds of nature around him. 

“Hey.”

He squinted his eyes at the disturber of his peace, vaguely recognised the contours of the man’s face. “Well, if it isn’t Uldren Sov. You’re in my light.”

“We don’t tan.”

“One can certainly try,” he smirked back up to him and gave a nod of thanks when the man moved to sit down next to him. “Did your sister kick you out of her secret meeting?”

Uldren kicked at his legs and snarled. “Fuck off.”

“Hey! You sat down next to me, you fuck off if you don’t want my splendid company,” Léon huffed back, closing his eyes to soak up the sun once again and deciding to ignore the man next to him. 

Uldren repaid the favour, looking out over the lake in front of them and watching the various birds fly past. 

“I’m bored.”

Léon opened an eye and looked at Uldren. “So?”

“Entertain me.”

He let out a disbelieving laugh. “Do you even know my name?” 

At the lack of response from the man next to him he rolled his eyes and shook his head. “They told me you were more interesting than this.”

Uldren perked up at that, smirked as he squinted at Léon. “What did they tell you?”

He tilted his head, trying to decide on what to tell him. All he really knew of Uldren was that he was one of the first Awoken together with his sister, who for some reason was held in high regard by the rest of their people. Uldren seemed to try, in vain, to be closer to his sister, but the coldness she always carried around seemed to extend to her own brother. If anything, Uldren seemed to be her lap dog, jumping at anything she ever told him to do. 

But in the same breath, Uldren also was an excellent hunter and scout for the new regions they were still exploring, which he knew because sometimes Léon had joined his scouting parties. They had exchanged some small talk, but mostly seemed to share glances and smirks, Uldren ordering him around whenever they were out hunting or scouting. He was an excellent shot, expert pilot, and, apparently, a great shag if he had to believe some of his male friends. 

All things considered, this was a prime opportunity to make those glances and smirks mean something. 

He grinned, sitting up and closing the space between them, tilting his head at the man. “Well, there are many things I’ve heard, but I have got to say the one I’m most intrigued in is definitely how good you are with your mouth.”

Uldren smirked a lopsided grin. “Word travels fast, then?”

“Or I just have the right connections,” Léon purred, creeping a hand close to the man’s leg. “My name is Léon, by the way,” he sat back and formally extended his hand, though couldn’t quite get rid of the mischievous glance in his eyes. “Joined your scouting parties sometimes, very enjoyable outings.”

The man snorted, took Léons hand, and then pulled him into him and caught his lips between his for a rough kiss. He bit at Léon’s lips and then snuck his tongue inside his mouth, deepening the kiss until Léon made a noise. 

“Good snogger then, too,” he breathed against Uldren’s lips, about to kiss him again when said man was a step ahead and kissed him instead, almost as if to prove a point.

Uldren hummed into Léon’s mouth, pushing him onto his back and allowing his hands to wander over the man’s muscled arms for a moment. “What else did you mean with my mouth?”

His grin told Léon that he knew very well what he had meant, so he decided to wrap a leg around Uldren’s hips and pull their groins together, pushing up into the friction and letting out a hot breath. 

Uldren growled at their joined hips, grinding into the pressure as he started pulling at Léon’s shirt. “Off,” he demanded then, eyes dark. 

“A commander even in bed?” Léon teased, hand sneaking up under Uldren’s shirt as his hips bucked up into his once more with a quiet moan. “Full of surprises, you.”

“Don’t you ever shut up?” Uldren growled on a whisper, opting to tear apart Léon’s shirt so the man couldn’t block his advances for a stupid joke again. He leaned down to kiss at his neck and collarbone, hands moving down under Léon’s pants and groping at his ass, pulling him up into him with a delicious moan from the man under him. 

“Not really, no. Take it or leave it, darling,” Léon purred, tilting his neck so Uldren had more skin to lap at. “But considering you’re - currently taking my pants off, something tells me you’re going to take it.” he scratched at Uldren’s back and was rewarded with a rough thrust against his clothed yet interested cock. 

He rolled his eyes but continued undressing Léon. He waited when he had arrived at the man’s underpants, and with a dark glance in his eyes he smirked down at him as he pulled it off. 

Léon’s cock sprung free into the cold air and sent shivers down his spine, but he ignored it to pull Uldren down for another rough kiss. “Show me what that mouth does already,” he grumbled against his lips, moaning when Uldren’s cold hand ghosted over his cock. “Oh jesus.”

“Sensitive skin,” Uldren commented simply, smirking at Léon before starting to kiss down his neck and chest. He lapped at the man’s nipple, pinched the other between his fingers, and then continued his trail of kisses down. He moved his fingers through the hair on the man’s abdomen, kissed at the abs around it before moving ever down his cold skin. 

He found Uldren’s hair and ran his hand through the smooth strands, biting at his lips when the heat of Uldren’s breath blew over his cock. “Dude, I swear-“ he gasped when he bobbed down onto his cock, right to the base. “Oh fuck,” his hand tightened in Uldren’s hair. 

Uldren made a noise and pulled back up, licking and suckling on the tip. Léon’s hand rested in his hair and his thighs tensed every time he bobbed down his cock and licked at the shaft in his mouth, and Uldren couldn’t feel more glee as he hollowed his cheeks. 

“Yeah that’s-“ Léon breathed, eyes fluttering. “That’s worthy of your reputation. Fuck.”

They lay there for another few minutes, Léon’s hips thrusting up into the heat of Uldren’s mouth, the man’s hands groping at his ass and supporting him to stay inside his mouth for a bit. 

“Okay,” Léon then breathed, pulling at Uldren’s hair and tugging him off. “You come over here,” he grumbled then, pulling the man over him and pressing their lips together in a harsh and desperate kiss. 

Uldren reciprocated right away, easily aligning their hips once more before he started grinding their cocks together. He hissed at the sudden pleasure, vision briefly showing pure stars. “Fuck.”

Léon snuck a hand between them and gripped at their cocks, gasping softly. “Fuck my hand,” he then whispered into Uldren’s mouth, nipping at the man’s lips as he bucked his hips up into his own hand and against Uldren’s cock. 

The friction was almost dizzying as Uldren supported himself over the man beneath him, letting out small gasps and groans as he thrust his hips into the tight space between Léon’s hand and cock. 

“I’m-“ Léon breathed, then unable to stop his body from tensing up as he came all over his chest and up to his chin, hips jerking through the waves of pleasure as he let out a moan and leaned his head back. 

“Fuck- fuck,” Uldren whimpered, eyes heavy lidded as he gripped at Léon’s hair and forced him to look at him. “Finish me off, darling,” he grumbled, kissing him roughly with more teeth than tongue in a messy and heated kiss. 

Léon cursed and easily rolled them over, removing his hand, with a whine from Uldren, and then easily slipping down his slender body. His mouth found the aching cock easily, lips wrapping around the shaft before he bobbed down and made a noise. 

The vibrations around his cock made him see stars for a moment, and he looked down at Léon, at his lips flush against his cock. He gripped at the long hair and pushed him back down, jerking his hips up into his throat. 

He gagged, but recovered easily and allowed Uldren to do it multiple times before he pulled off and licked up the shaft, hand fondling with his balls. He wrapped a hand around his cock and then suckled on the tip as his hand moved around his cock.

Uldren let out a pleased moan, eyes closed and hand tight in Léon’s hair as the heat and friction around his cock pooled pure fire in his gut. “Léon-“ he started. 

Léon promptly bobbed down and made a noise as Uldren cummed into his mouth, the hot liquid salty on his tongue. He looked up to meet Uldren’s yellow eyes and then plopped off his cock before swallowing. 

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Uldren grumbled, hungrily pulling Léon into his space and tilting his head back to slowly lick up the white spatters on his chin. He easily found the man’s lips and kissed him once more, naked bodies pressed tightly together. 

In the distance, somebody called out Léon’s name, and the man glanced up from his embrace and make-out session with Uldren. “Well, Uldren Sov,” he bit at Uldren’s bottom lip. “Seems like I am needed somewhere. You owe me a shirt,” he smirked at the man as he stood up and gathered his clothes, looking disheveled and spent, but incredibly pleased with himself. 

“Let’s do it again soon,” Uldren simply countered, watching the muscles move beneath Léon’s skin. “I’ll make sure to owe you many more.”

He also made sure to stare down Léon’s red bum as he walked towards whoever had called him. 


	5. Taken on Me

The apartment was quiet when he turned the key and walked into the darkness. However when he saw the lone light on at the dinner table and the man sitting there he halted. 

“Oh.”

“Good evening, Crow,” Saladin greeted with an acknowledging nod in his direction, attention aimed at the datapad in his hand. “Vax told me two months ago she gave you a key to our apartment,” he chuckled softly. “Wondered when you’d use it.”

The Hunter laughed a bit and shrugged as the door fell back into its lock. “Didn’t feel right to, it’s not my place,” he hung his coat up on the coat rack and sunk into the couch, sighing. “What are you doing?” 

The Titan sat back in the chair and took off his reading glasses, looking at Crow in the dark. “Got some reports of foul play in the previous Iron Banner, just reading through the data and watching the videos attached, making sure the Guardians in question are reprimanded for their actions.”

“Oh, does that happen often?”

“More than I’d like, that’s for sure,” he murmured, putting his glasses back on and leaning back over his report. 

Crow watched the man for a bit, unsure what exactly the knot in his stomach was trying to tell him before he decided to ignore it for now and turn on the lights. 

“Did she tell you she is away on mission for a few days?” his voice called out through the room and Crow looked back at him. 

His heart beat loudly in his chest and he suddenly realised he definitely understood what that knot meant. “She didn’t.”

“She was in a hurry, must’ve forgotten,” he sipped his forgotten coffee and grimaced at the coldness of it. He set it back down and shoved it aside. “You can go back home if you want, as far as I’m aware there is nothing for you here.” 

Crow would beg to differ, purple blush rising to his cheeks when their eyes met, the other man seeming unaware of it as he smiled kindly at him. “Actually uh, your apartment is way nicer than mine. I’ve always enjoyed hanging out here. Cozy.”

Saladin laughed softly. “Yeah, Vax may be a busy woman, she definitely found some time to make this her own. Then when I moved in my stuff just seamlessly integrated,” he turned the datapad off and stretched his arms upwards, making a satisfied noise and leaning back, seeming exhausted. 

The Hunter eyed at the rejected coffee. “Shall I set some new coffee?” he asked, already making the motions for it. 

The Titan got up from the table, chair scraping over the hard floor. He smiled softly at a fond memory at the sound and hummed as he tapped his fingers on the table. “I’ll prepare the guest bedroom, then.” 

Crow watched him walk into the adjacent room, heart beating in his throat. Usually when he stayed over Saladin wasn’t here, considering they didn’t have a large enough bed for three, so he wasn’t too familiar with the guest bedroom. Of course he and Saladin often hung out together with Vax, going to a cafe or restaurant and having food together. He had really entered a relationship with Vax without any problems and he couldn’t be more thankful at how lovely Saladin had been to him as a newcomer in the relationship. 

He also couldn’t admit the few times he  _ had _ been in the guest bedroom he had sometimes heard the couple do their thing and he had done his own in response. In those times he had felt a weird longing to be with  _ both _ of them, not even just Vax. And with Léon appearing into his life, he had come to the realisation that men, too, were a very viable thing his brain and body seemed to enjoy. 

“The bedroom’s all made up,” Saladin interrupted his thoughts as he brushed past him to get the coffee. 

“Oh, thanks,” Crow smiled at him, hoped to the Traveler that he didn’t see the purple blush. He wondered when the next time would be where he would be alone with the Titan, and in a rare moment of courage, he cleared his throat. “So, this is completely random, but-“ his yellow eyes met Saladin’s brown ones and he blinked, cleared his throat once more with a nervous laugh. “Have you ever - been with other men?” he immediately cringed at himself. “You don’t have to answer if-“

“I have, yes,” he calmly sipped his coffee, body language relaxed as he leaned against the counter. 

This revelation fried his brain, and it took a second for him to reboot. “Really? With who?”

A small and fond smile glazed over his eyes, undoubtedly remembering his escapades and/or relationships. “People who are long dead, or people who were simply on different paths than me. Not much time back in the Dark Age, but we found it where we could.”

He really hoped his face was as calm and collected as Saladin’s at this point, feeling lightheaded at the mere  _ possibility _ . “Uh-“

“I have seen your glances, yes,” his brown eyes looked over the edge of the mug, an unreadable expression in them. “Ask what you really want to. I’m getting a bit too old to dance around these things,” he teased then with a light smile. 

Another reboot was necessary and he laughed with a bit of disbelief, needing to turn and walk through the room as he tucked some hair behind his ears. “I mean, fuck. I’ve seen you kiss Vax and I-“ he hesitated, felt like his heart wanted to leap out his chest and promptly die of cardiac arrest. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but it’s started to make me wonder how you- uh,” the purple blush heated his cheeks and he inwardly cursed at himself. “Fuck.”

“No rush,” the man at the counter said coolly, sipping his coffee and then smirking. “I have all evening.”

He stared at the man, demeanour having completely changed. He realised then that this was how he always was around Vax, the confident man who knew what he was doing, and he immediately understood why she loved him as much as she did. “Kiss me.”

Saladin smirked but didn’t move, coffee mug in hand. “You really want me to? You seemed quite unsure.”

Crow grumbled at the teasing, stepped closer to the man. “I know what I want, yes. And right now, I want to know the way you kiss, the way you hold me when we kiss, and the noises you may make during.”

He calmly set his mug on the counter. “And will it evolve into something more?”

The Hunter blinked and blushed, body screaming a full  _ yes _ as his brain overclocked and desperately had to get his mouth machine to work. Thoughts raced through his mind a million miles an hour, and he was sure that if he had been an Exo steam would’ve come off of him. “I… I honestly don’t feel anything for you the way Vax does, I- fuck I just want to touch you and hold you and kiss you and feel you inside me and, stuff,” he breathed, biting his lips insecurely. 

This seemed to please Saladin and he nodded. “Very well, just a physical thing then. I can very much so live with that,” a hungry gaze settled on Crow as the Titan stepped closer.

Crow felt positively breathless as he looked at the man in front of him, pure attraction towards him coursing through his veins and screaming at him to jump at him. But, he wanted him to take the initiative. 

And oh how he did, suddenly gripping Crow’s chin and pressing their lips together in a deep kiss that left the Hunter breathless when they parted.

“Like that?” Saladin purred, smirking into the heavy-lidded yellow eyes. 

“Y-yeah,” he breathed in response, licking at his lips. “So when you uh-  _ before _ , how does that-?”

He didn’t need any more information than that as he simply pressed into Crow’s space and crashed their lips together once more, muscled arms wrapping around the slender Hunter and pressing him close. 

He was still right in his space when they parted, breath hot on Crow’s face. “Jesus, I- will we be needing the guest bedroom?” he muttered then, ignoring the anxiety that flared up at his own question. Strong hands found his ass and squeezed, hips pleasantly pressed together. 

“Will we?” dark eyes looked down at him. 

He cursed, knowing full well that this was him asking for consent and that if he gave it, there was no way back. 

He licked his lips and then shook his head, whimpering when Saladin rolled his hips in response. 

“Good, cause it has been a while and you better not think I haven’t noticed you either.” he growled onto Crow’s lips, kissing them and pressing his tongue inside. 

Somehow they managed to make it to the bedroom, lights staying on in the living room. 


	6. Guard of the Garden

Uldren squinted at the Mars sun, intensely watching the portal in the distance. Jolyon laid next to him in the sand, taking apart the sniper rifle and rebuilding it perfectly, passing the time, trying to calm his nerves. 

“What are you expecting to happen?”

“Vex activity has increased the past few days, I’d almost say they are planning something,” the Prince countered, binoculars pressed against his face. “I want to know what.”

Jolyon chuckled grimly. “If I can speak freely?”

“Of course.”

He laid down the weapon, looked at his friend. “I think there is no point in us keeping guard of the Garden. We barely got through last time, not to speak of what we saw inside,” he trailed off for a moment. “If anything, let somebody else do it. We have other important things we can do.”

“If you’re talking about shagging-“

“God, no,” he grimaced. “That’s the last thing on my mind right now,” he picked the half torn-down sniper rifle back up, continued reassembling it. “I gotta say that after the Garden, I just- it’s different now.” he murmured, not meeting the Prince’s eyes. 

Uldren decided not to comment on that, mind briefly wandering and flashing a familiar face in front of his eyes. He shook it away, sensorium weak and refusing to connect, and then perked up when he saw a silhouette in the distance. “Contact.”

Jol raised the sniper rifle and zoomed in on the person. “Awoken, one of ours,” he murmured. “Seems to be investigating the gate. Is killing the Vex guarding it.”

The Prince didn’t need Jol to tell him what the Awoken man was doing, for he recognised the silhouette like no other and could easily figure out why Léon was investigating the gate. “He’s following me,” he murmured on a whisper, frowning. 

“What? Who is he?” Jol frowned at Uldren. “Do I know him?”

A bitter laugh. “He’s the guy I’m fucking you for.”

“I always knew I was a rebound,” he sighed dramatically, then sobering up and keeping the Awoken in his sight. 

“He’s not a threat,” the Prince concluded dryly, laying the binoculars aside. Jolyon joked about it, but they both knew the platonic reasons behind their hookups: they both just wanted some release every now and again, no strings attached. And Uldren may definitely have fucked him for the sake of it, missing a body pressed against him at night. 

“So who is he?” Jol stirred Uldren out of his thoughts, eyes burning into the Prince’s sides. 

“Why, are you jealous?” he smirked at him, revelled still in the man’s slight blush. “He’s simply somebody I knew back in the Distributary. You don’t have to know more than that.”

Jol grumbled, starting work on his sniper rifle again. “Secrets seem to run in your family,” he shook his head. “You don’t exactly create healthy relationships with that, your Highness.”

Uldren scoffed at his title. “Please, you only have to call me that in bed,” he said smoothly, eyes gliding back to the silhouette of Léon in the distance. 

The silhouette stood still, hand seeming to shade his eyes, and Uldren  _ knew _ that Léon was looking at them. 

“Let’s go.”

With Jolyon’s grumbling he moved away from the ridge, heart aching. 


	7. Heavy Lies the Crown

They were making out in a grass field when Uldren pulled back and averted his gaze, cheeks heated and lips well-kissed, but looking troubled. 

“Darling?” Léon questioned simply, hand caressing the other man’s cheek. “Was the productive kissing session too much for the dear Prince?” a hand idly moved towards his thighs.

Uldren grumbled and sat up, running a hand through his hair and choosing to ignore the remark aimed at him. “We have to stop.”

The Awoken chuckled. “And we have, so what else?”

“No, I mean,” Uldren looked into Léon’s yellow eyes and frowned. “I mean that  _ we _ -“ he motioned his hand between them. “ _ Us _ , has to stop.”

He squinted at that, followed Uldren and sat up as well. “Did your sister make a fuss? Thought I was too hot for you or something? Not that she’s wrong,” he teased with a slight chuckle, but the joke didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Stop fucking around, prick,” Uldren snapped at him and immediately regretted it as the man simply nodded and pulled away from him. “Léon,” he reached for his hand, but then thought twice about it and winced as he pulled it back. “You understand, right?”

“Understand what? That after like two billion years of fucking and being in a relationship without the official label you’re calling it quits so you can mope around with your sister?” Léon’s face was neutral, but his voice gave away how upset he really was. Always a master at hiding his real emotions. 

“This has nothing to do with Mara!” the man growled at his lover, getting up from the warm grass and averting his eyes. “I have other things I have to do,  _ want _ to do.”

Léon looked up to Uldren, remembered in a flash the first time they really spent some time together alone, and laughed bitterly. “And those things simply don’t include me? I see.”

“No- Léon,” he started, but then realised how utterly useless it really was. They had already been in the Distributary for two and a half billion years and he had so many things he wanted to explore still, things he wanted to do, things that Léon would only distract him from. He had made the painful decision weeks ago but had simply been unable to tell him until now, and even now he said it with a heavy heart. 

“What?” Léon’s yellow eyes looked accusingly at him, and Uldren wished so much that they instead had been wanting and loving like they had been before. 

He opened his mouth, for once speechless. He winced and dragged a hand over his face. “Léon, I lo-“

“Don’t,” he snapped on a low and threatening growl. “Don’t say that for the first time when you’re breaking up with me. I know you’re an asshole but I find it hard to believe you’d be  _ that _ much of an asshole,” he crawled up from the ground as well, the sun clouded now. “Just do your thing and I’ll do mine, no fuss about it. Let’s live our lives like none of this ever happened.”

“Léon, for fuck’s sake, I do want you to know these years were amazing, incredible, and I  _ do _ in fact lo-“

“No!” Léon’s cheeks heated with anger as he snapped towards Uldren. “You tell me when you actually mean it and are ready to sustain what we have. You need to break free from your fucking sister, man, she is no good for you.”

Uldren flared up at that, brows furrowed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“And you do?”

The two men stared at each other, and Uldren found it impossibly hard to deny the way he felt about Léon right now, even if Léon was, rightfully so, angry at him, it only made him more beautiful. 

“Have a good life, Uldren Sov,” Léon grumbled then. 

“Léon…”

“I’ll still be part of the Crows, I’ll still join your scouting missions and explorations. We just won’t be together anymore, that’s all,” his voice cracked at the last words and he turned away from the man he had loved for two billion years. “See you around, Uldren Sov.” 

Uldren’s heart broke in a thousand pieces as he watched his ex-lover walk away from him. 

  
  


They still saw each other, with aching hearts and glances averted, and for ten billion years it was an agonising experience to see the man he still loved hook up with others and enter relationships he thought he should’ve been in instead. 

When Mara shared her plan of venturing back into the Milky Way they had come from, he was the first to join the mission. 

Léon had been the fourth. 

They didn’t speak, and when they did it was all business, sharing battle plans for if they came across anything hostile that had to be taken care of, maneuvers the Hulls would be able to pull off, the assignments for every person on board, what they would do  _ exactly  _ once (if) they had made it back. 

The evading of the missiles their own people had shot out was an easy going for Uldren, but he thought of Léon in the middle of it and connected easily with him like they had done all those ten billion years ago, sharing thoughts and feelings as they moved into each other. 

_ Uldren? _

The sensorium closed as soon as the Hull screeched them out of their pocket universe, and Léon’s voice was lost to the void. 

  
  


When he lay in the sickbay getting treated for the gash on his neck, he would swear he saw Léon’s face in his mind, as if the man was calling out to him to check on him, make sure he was okay, but as soon as he had received the signal it had gone and he was alone again. 

As he lay there in the darkness healing, he realized two things. One, Léon somehow hadn’t lost his sensorium like his sister had. Two, he was still actively using it, and used it right now to check on a face that had last mattered billions of years ago. 

  
  


Jolyon was a fine spotter, but he wasn’t Léon. 

He was a pleasant enough company to have, easy enough to not think of his lover from all those years ago, but sometimes he spoke of a familiar face in his mind and Uldren’s mind raced straight back to him, realized he was still checking in on him. 

His heart still pounded at the thought of him. 

When he returned with the Asphodelia, that he had plucked if anything for his sister, he kept a small piece of it for himself. He put it in a nice vase and then looked at it for a while with hesitation. 

When he placed it down in front of Léon’s chambers he had attached a little note, and then he waited. 

  
  


“Uldren Sov.”

Uldren snapped up from his sniper rifle, reflexes faster than his mind as he had already aimed a handgun at Léon. 

Léon. 

He blinked, out of breath as soon as he had realised. He tucked the handgun away, stared some more at the man standing next to him. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Léon teased lightly, not moving from where he was.

It took a second to find his voice again, struck by the beauty of his ex-lover. “With your hair as long as it is I may as well have,” he breathed. 

“Nine hundred meters.”

Uldren snapped back to his sniper rifle. The shot cracked through the air and in the distance a Knight’s head popped off. The Awoken Prince looked back at Léon. “What-“

“I saw the flowers. Heard the story from Jolyon.”

The Prince grumbled. “And he begged me not to share what we saw.”

Léon smirked and shrugged, crouching down. “Didn’t tell you  _ how _ I heard about it, darling.”

Butterflies fluttered in his belly straight away, heat rushing to his cheeks and, for some reason he definitely knew, his nether regions. He couldn’t be more glad to be wearing a helmet and to be lying down on his belly. 

“You still didn’t tell me in person,” his voice was softer now, more fond and loving, the way Uldren had last heard it billions of years ago. 

“I’m sorry, Léon,” Uldren sat up, left the sniper rifle where it was. “I really am.”

Léon sat down in front of him. “Do you regret it?”

He looked into Léon’s eyes, then reached up and unclasped his helmet, pulling it off and setting it aside. “I wouldn’t have sent the flowers if I didn’t.”

“Going into the Black Garden was foolish, even for an asshole like you. Did you  _ want _ to die or something?” Léon scolded him, but there was no venom in his words, his face neutral. 

After all this time Uldren struggled to read his expression, but he could tell the fondness that glistened in his eyes. “Are you still mad?”

Léon shrugged. “I had ten billion years to move on, find new love and all that shit,” he carded some hair behind his ear, eyed at the various enemies down below. “Didn’t work out.”

Jealousy flared up inside him, but he didn’t want to ruin the fragile path they were currently treading. “I saw, yes.”

“So, ten billion years and I find Uldren Sov on my doorstep. After  _ he _ broke up with  _ me _ of course,” he smirked a bit, but Uldren could definitely see some kind of pain in his eyes. “Nobody was as good as you, you know.”

His heart broke. “I’m sorry.”

“Did you ever find somebody else?” Léon played with some of the purple grass of the Tangled Shore, eyed at the Prince. 

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Some,” he shrugged, thinking about Jolyon and some other Awoken he had attempted something with. “But me being the Queen’s brother and all…” he trailed off. 

“Little Uldren Sov unable to find love?”

They looked at each other. 

Léon was the first to break the stare. He whipped out the note that had been attached to the flowers. “‘I love you’,” he said then. “Don’t tell me that after all this time…?”

His heart pounded in his throat. “Ten billion years. Yes.”

A rare blush rose to Léon’s cheeks. He seemed to process this before a frown angered his face. “Then why the fuck did you break up!? If you really loved me, why wouldn’t you have communicated it with me?” he breathed, looking tired not soon after. “How much time did we lose because of your stupidity, Uldren.”

It wasn’t a question, and Uldren looked at his ex-lover as he rubbed a hand over his face. “... Léon, I have to know,” he started then, feeling a bit breathless. “Please, I miss you.”

The man glanced down at his hands. They had started aging ever so slightly ever since they had returned to this universe, and he definitely knew which lines were new and showed his age. He sighed and looked back up to the Prince. “Of course I want you back in my life, asshole,” he grumbled then, a small smile on his face. “I’ve missed you too. Why did you think I had all those people?”

“Quite frankly,” he started, subconsciously leaning closer to the man in front of him. “I thought you did that to get back at me.” 

Léon leaned into Uldren’s personal space and smirked. “It was, at first. Then it turned into self pity.”

“Please kiss me.”

He blinked and then laughed. “Really, after I said  _ that _ ?” 

Uldren snapped a hand behind Léon’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss, lips crashing together. 

Léon made a noise of surprise and then kissed back right away, hands wrapping around Uldren’s waist and pressing him close on his knees. 

After ten billion years they both felt like they were starving, kissing and biting at each other, mouthing at each other’s exposed throats and jaw and whatever they could find. 

After a few minutes of snogging they parted, both men breathless. 

“Fuck,” Uldren cursed, armour uncomfortably tight at his crotch now. “Fuck, Léon, so much time.”

“Not my fucking fault is it, Prince?” he mouthed at Uldren’s neck and sucked a hickey on it. He moved a hand down to his thighs. “Your armour’s in the way, darling.”

Uldren grunted and kicked the sniper rifle aside, pulling Léon over him as he laid them down. “Then take it off, smartass,” he growled onto his lips, before kissing away whatever the infuriating and lovely and exhilarating Awoken had to say. 


	8. Morally Grey

“So you’re saying we used to kill Guardians for fun?” Crow squinted at Léon with his hands on his hips, distrusting. 

“Darling, surely you read the journals I gave you?” Léon frowned, arms crossed on his chest. “Everything you and I have ever done is right in there. We’ve done quite some questionable things,” he smiled a bit at the memories, relaxed his body. 

Crow ran a hand down his face. “I don’t understand - why did we do that? And how awful it must’ve been for your Ghost to witness?” he glanced at the hovering companion next to the other Hunter. 

Said Hunter laughed. “Darling, you and I gave no two shits about it,” he smiled fondly at his former lover, ignored the hurt at his empty eyes and distant body language. He told himself this was still Uldren, but he couldn’t fathom how he had managed to retain all his memories and Uldren - no, Crow - had not. He averted his eyes and shrugged, refused to let his mind wander to the hurt that split a chasm deeply in his heart. 

Crow sat down on a bench and pondered it over. He looked back up to Léon. “I’ve done awful things before my resurrection. Why are you here?”

He wasn’t sure how to respond, opening his mouth and closing it again. He winced and carded some of his long black hair back behind his ears before taking a deep breath. “Because even when you were an asshole and broke up with me for ten billion years, I still loved you, as I still love you now. And I recognise that Riven manipulated you and made you do things you’d never do yourself,” he said softly. “I always  _ did _ say you did too much for your sister,” a pathetic attempt at a joke, the hurt still fresh in his heart despite knowing the reasoning behind Uldren’s abandonment of him. 

The seated Hunter was quiet for a moment, staring down at his hands as he wrung them together and just thought for a moment. “Why don’t I remember everything like you do?” he quietly asked then. “All I have is this very strong attraction to you and shards of memories, but I have no idea what it all means.”

A rush of hope flooded into Léon’s guts at that.  _ Very strong attraction _ . He eyed at his Ghost, who he still hadn’t named after all those decades. “What  _ is _ up with that?” 

It chimed up, happy to be acknowledged. “Well, the longer somebody has been dead for, the less we can pull out of the brain and insert in your memory banks. Since I linked with you as soon as you died back at the battle of Saturn you retained all your memories and who you are as a person, just like you will every time I will resurrect you afterwards,” it took a breath it didn’t need. “But since Crow got resurrected a bit later after his death, all he has retained are the emotions and bits and pieces of his memories, for Pork was unable to pull anything more out and had to create new neural pathways.”

Léon looked back at his former lover, the now Hunter, and then nodded slowly. “Say, would it be possible to override those new pathways and reconnect broken links, make him remember more?”

Pork chimed up at that. “Unfortunately, no. When I revived my Guardian I had to lay new and blank foundations for who he is, which is why Guardians can have new personalities upon first revival, they’re reborn entirely anew,” it hovered around Crow’s head and then settled in the crook of his neck. “Who Crow is currently is who he will be for the rest of his Guardian life.”

The Awoken deflated, taking a deep breath and wincing at himself. His and Uldren’s relationship was completely gone, after all those eons they would have to start all over again and learn each other once more. 

“I’m sorry,” Crow mumbled. 

“But,” Pork started up again. “You  _ can _ try and strengthen the memories and feelings he  _ does _ have, for those pathways I did not touch and the links can be properly remade.”

His heart about leapt out of his chest and he was unable to stop the grin from spreading out over his face. “Really?” his yellow eyes looked down to Crow and he reflexively gripped the man’s hands and pulled him up to meet him. “Do you mind,  _ mon cœur _ ?” 

Crow blinked at him, feeling breathless as he looked in the man’s face. He vaguely remembered a shining blue sky and them lying together in the grass, ghostly touches of tongue on skin. His heart beat in his throat and he shook his head, voice hoarse when he said, “No.”

“Lovey,” Léon leaned in and softly pressed their lips together, familiar skin touching his, cold replaced by the familiar heat of Uldren’s- Crow’s mouth. 

He definitely would have to get used to the name change. 

Crow melted in the kiss, instincts taking over and gripping at the Hunter’s neck to pull him in closer and deepen the kiss. 

When they parted both men were breathless, and Crow felt lightheaded. 

“Our first time…?”

“On the fields, yeah,” Léon breathed, revelling in the taste of Crow on his lips. He smiled. “All those eons ago, when you made me fall in love.”


	9. Holiday Spirit

“Uldren!”

Guardians on the plaza looked around in alarm and immediate hostility, hands reaching for stowed weapons, and Crow nervously dipped over to Rahool to hand in his engrams. 

Despite having been here for three months and the Vanguard reprimanding everybody who in any way threatened the new Hunter, people still hated his guts with a passion. They still snarled at him and still walked past him, but at least nobody raised a gun anymore. 

So far. 

“Uldren, wait!” the man called again and Crow really didn’t understand why this man was so eager to get shot and killed by calling out one of the most hated enemies of the Guardians in this Tower. He was making them nervous and definitely trigger happy.

A hand brushed over his shoulder and he jumped and then swivelled into the face of another Awoken Hunter. Something about his face rang a bell and sent butterflies twirling in his stomach. 

“Uldren,” he beamed and tears glistened in his eyes. Without warning he pulled Crow close and hugged him tightly, pressing his face in the man’s neck. 

Crow froze, eyes wide and arms awkwardly hung at his sides. Despite the randomness of it all, something about it felt hugely familiar and he had to stop himself from hugging back, an inclination he had no idea where it came from. 

The man pulled back, cupped Crow’s cheeks, and then inspected his face thoroughly, yellow eyes intensely staring over the flawed skin as if looking for anything amiss. When satisfied he pulled back and smiled. “You look just like when I last saw you,” he said softly. 

“Uhm,” Crow blinked, purple blush heating his cheeks as he held onto the man’s arms. “I’m- not Uldren,” he said then, dropping his hands and blinking rapidly. “Who are you?”

Bewildered, the man stepped back, eyes wide. “... What do you mean?” he laughed with disbelief, taking his hands off of Crow and bungling them awkwardly to the side. “Don’t you remember me at all?”

He shook his head and rubbed at his neck. “Your face looks vaguely familiar, and I’m- feeling things but I don’t-“

“We’ve been dating for eons,” Léon said softly. “I got revived a few years ago and we uh, haven’t seen each other since,” he took a deep breath and steadied himself. “I remembered everything, so I sort of uh, expected you to as well. Sorry.”

Crow simply nodded, not entirely sure what to do with all this sudden information, but he definitely couldn’t deny the fact that his body  _ recognised _ this man. 

“Can I show you something?” he asked then, obviously restraining himself from touching Crow any more. “I have something that may help, if you’d - be okay with that if course.”

He hesitated, didn’t even know the guy’s name, but then he once again felt a surge of butterflies when the man simply smiled at him, and he made up his mind. “Yeah, okay.”

“Let’s go somewhere where there aren’t that many people, and some room. It’s quite a lot,” he reflexively took Crow’s hand and pulled him along to somewhere below the Tower into an empty space and then halted. “Okay. Ghost, transmat the journals please.”

Stacks of boxes appeared, filled with journals that were labeled the dates they spanned. One of the bottom boxes wasn’t full yet, some journals on their front when gravity claimed them again. 

The Awoken Hunter walked over and opened a box and pulled out a journal, handing it to Crow. “This is the very first one I wrote, when Ghost here first came to me and let me know I would have a second life,” he looked down at the old and tattered journal. “I’d heard the stories of Risen not knowing who they are and where they’d come from, so I started these to prevent that from happening, so that when I’d awake I’d have the whole account of my life and who I am.”

Crow blinked at the boxes. “So why- are you giving these to me?” 

“Because, darling,” he said instinctively, unaware of the blush that rose to Crow’s cheeks. “I remembered everything when I got revived. They ended up being useless for me.”

“I still don’t follow,” he frowned and shifted through the pages and pages full with handwritten stories. 

The man laughed softly. “You certainly haven’t become smarter,” he took the journal and grabbed another one. “This is where you come into my life,” he handed the red journal to Crow and smiled softly. “And since we spent almost every waking second together, there is  _ quite _ something to read about you and you and me. It may help you remember.”

“Oh,” he nodded slowly, processing all of this. “Wait, what’s your name?”

Sadness pierced the man’s eyes, despite the spectacularly real smile on his face. “Léon.”

“Léon.” 

Saying it out loud sent a surge of  _ something _ through his body, and he let out a breath. “Two billion years, huh?” 

“That’s right,” Léon spoke softly and motioned to the journals and boxes around them. “Read these. Please,” he smiled faintly at Crow. “You will understand then, maybe even remember,” he rested a hand on his hip and nodded to himself. “I’ll have Ghost send you my coordinates if you want to talk more, I uh- I think I already overwhelmed you enough for today,” he chuckled softly. 

He nodded and motioned for Pork to transmat the boxes away. “Thank you. For- bringing me this.” 

Léon looked at Crow for a moment. Then he gave a sad smile. “Happy Valentine’s Day,  _ mon cœur _ .”

  
Crow’s heart skipped a dozen beats and he felt the blood rushing to his cheeks as he averted his eyes. It felt  _ intimate _ to hear those words spoken to him. “See you around,” he stammered in response, yellow glowing eyes watching as the Hunter nodded and transmatted away. 


End file.
